Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Description:

The black-bellied whistling duck reaches a length of 48 to 52 centimeters, with a wingspan between 90 and 96 centimeters and a weight of 650 up to 1,000 g. The sexes have no appreciable dimorphism. The back, the long neck, the top of the head and the area of ​​the breast have a brown to cinnamon-brown coloring. The dark brown belly is limited by a narrow white band visually from the zimtbraunen breast, rump shows a whitish color, which is interspersed with dark brown. The head side and the lateral neck are colored pale gray-brown. The broad wings are colored in contrast. In the central part of the wing there is a white mirror, hand and arm swings have a black coloration. The Schulterfittiche are gray brown to cinnamon brown. The underside of the wings is consistently dyed black. The same coloring shows up in the area of ​​the tail. The long legs have a bright red color, the feet ending in four toes, the front three toes are webbed. The toe end in small claws that serve the grave activity. The sharp beak is colored bright red to reddish, the upper beak approach reveals a orange coloring. The beak is whitish to horn colored. The nostrils are located laterally about the first third of the beak. The eyes are dark colored and surrounded by a fine white eye ring.

Habitat:

Popular habitats are sparse forests along waterways such as lakes, ponds and slow moving rivers. However, flood plains, riverine forests and similar habitats are colonized regularly. Shallow waters are clearly preferred. The habitats are mostly located in the plane, however, occur Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks also at altitudes of 1,000 to 1,500 meters.